Some 100 militants, belonging to Socialista – a political organization of socialist workers in the Philippines, staged a protest rally in Mendiola, Manila to strongly urge the China government, backed by its ruling elites in the Communist Party of China, to get out of the West Philippine Sea and recall all its military installations, war machines and personnel in the disputed mineral-rich marine territory.

“The story behind this military-cum-bullying act of China in claiming the West Philippine Sea is the desperate move of its ruling elites (Communist Party leaders and capitalists)to maintain its burgeoning economy afloat behind the looming economic crisisbrought about by the natural cycle of capitalism,” Larry De Guzman, Socialista spokesperson, said.

According to an academic report, the West Philippine Sea has “the potential to meet the country’s (Philippines) fuel demand in the next 20 years” (Lucio Blanco PitloIII/Oct. 2013). “That is how valuable the disputed territory is, thus, China as a capitalist country (and not a socialist as they claim), will wield its mighty force to solely benefit from this valuable energy resources to power up its economy and maintain its rivalry with the US for world economic dominance,”adds De Guzman.

Wearing black shirts, the socialist workers staged the protest also as a commemoration of the June 3-4, 1989 “Tiananmen Square Massacre” in China where hundreds of pro-democracy students and workers were crushed by military tanks and eventually died fighting for freedom of speech, assemblies and equal rights to all Chinese citizens.

“The Tiananmen Massacre then and bullying in West Philippine Sea now, is the brand of“solution” for the Chinese government to resolve issues – both were militaristic in nature. Today, we also demand justice from the Communist Party of China for all the students and workers who courageously sacrificed their lives and was never compensated for their heroic acts,” reiterated by the group’s statement.

“Speaking of courage, Socialista believes that President Aquino lacks this virtue in relation to depending the West Philippine Sea from the bully China,” Ding Villasin, Socialista Chair, commented in lieu of the Aquino government’s“dependency to US support and relying on the circus of diplomacy”.

This is in relation to numerous international reports that China vehemently upholds its“indisputable sovereignty” over South China Sea, including West Philippine Sea,thus, the continuous deployment of their military personnel and machineries in the disputed territory.

With thisChina’s proud pronouncement, Villasin surmised, “The Aquino administration“lack of balls” to thwart this claim by China over the West Philippine Sea and just rely to international support and diplomacy processes, is a sign of cowardice on the part of Philippine government. As the President, he should be at the forefront to rally the Filipinos, behind the Armed Forces of the Philippines,to defend the country’s sovereign territory.”

The group proposed other means, apart from diplomacy, to sanction China for its bullying actions. “Filipino consumers can boycott products imported from China, with utmost primacy to low quality products, or the Philippine government can stop economic relations with China, and other ways that could somehow hurt China’s economy but with high considerations in maintaining the economic performance ofthe Philippines,” ends Villasin.